This lesbian couple traveling with Soulforce — the “Rasmus-Ford family” — says, “God created us [as lesbians] exactly as we are with purpose and intention.” Should mega-churches like Willow Creek have agreed to meet with a homosexual activist group whose goal is to “cut off homophobia at its source – religious bigotry”? Sonja Dalton (below) says NO and Michael Brown says YES (under certain conditions).

This is a Point/Counterpoint on the question of whether Willow Creek Community Church (in South Barrington, Illinois) and other mega-churches should have met with the pro-homosexual activist group Soulforce, which aims to “cut off homophobia at its source – religious bigotry.” Below is a commentary by my good friend Sonja Dalton, who argues AGAINST such meetings. Click HERE to read an opposing column by Dr. Michael Brown, who says they can be used — with proper discernment — for Christian outreach.

We will allow each writer to respond to the other’s arguments, and welcome input from our readers, too; write us at americansfortruth@comcast.net. (Sorry, but we’re not interested in publishing pro-homosexuality pieces — there are plenty of “gay” websites for that.) Footnotes are at bottom:

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Willow Creek Church Should Not Have Met with Soulforce

Point/Counterpoint [to read Michael Brown’s opposing column, click HERE]

By Sonja Dalton

A fundamental question has been lost amid the sensation over the recent meeting between Willow Creek leadership and pro-homosexuality activists affiliated with the group Soulforce:

Did Pastor Bill Hybels have Biblical authority to welcome, meet with, and dine with Jay Bakker and Soulforce?

First, let’s examine who these Willow Creek “guests” [1] were…

Jay Bakker (right) is the cigarette-puffing, tattooed, punk-rocker son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker; he’s the star of the Sundance Channel series “One Punk Under God” and “pastor” of the “gay”-affirming Revolution NYC [2]. He is quoted as having said:

“…I felt like God spoke to my heart and said ‘[homosexuality] is not a sin.’” [3]

(You might want to pencil that into your Bible, somewhere near Leviticus 18:22 or I Corinthians 6:9-11. Or not.)

From American Family Association’s OneNewsNow (full story and audio HERE):

Pro-family advocates are responding to the Kentucky governor’s promotion of homosexual behavior and gender confusion among state employees.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear issued an executive order earlier this month adding the phrase “sexual orientation or gender identity” to the non-discrimination policy for state employees. Peter LaBarbera with Americans for Truth About Homosexuality says the governor is potentially creating, rather than solving, problems for the state.

Read the rest of this article »

By Dr. Ted Baehr

Don’t buy the lie! Time is running out! Intentionally or not, too many in the press, the mass media, the government, and the education establishment have confused the citizens of America about the institution of marriage. As a result, California is destroying the family, and the United States is on the verge of a self-inflicted spiritual holocaust.

First of all, as many of our readers already know, there are many forms of government. In our western democracy, there are at least four spheres of government: individual government, family government, ecclesiastical government, and civil government. In the United States of America, the civil government owes its existence to the consent of the governed, not the other way around, in the tradition of the Magna Carte. Furthermore, since the Rev. Samuel Rutherford wrote LEX, REX, which clarified the rule of law posited by the Magna Carte, all of these forms of government have been under God’s Law in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. When king or ruler is above the law, he often acts in imperious and dictatorial ways, for the very nature of power is to corrupt the powerful, unless it is restrained by God’s Law. In essence, God’s Law says to love your neighbor as yourself, and the civil government is subject to that divine law.

Thus, the Declaration of Independence made it clear that King George III acted illegally when he oppressed the American colonies, because he was under the Law of God. Countries that allowed men to rule above the law have produced tyrants such as Stalin, Hitler and Mao Tse Tung. Current examples include Mugabwe, Chavez and the military junta in Burma, among many others.

It must be emphasized that marriage between one man and one woman is a God ordained, God defined, biblical act. For 1,800 years in western countries, marriage was a unique institution, initiated by God when he created the male and female, presided over by Jesus Christ when he blessed the act of marriage and stated that a man and a woman would leave their parents and join together to become one flesh, and sustained by the Holy Spirit who not only holds the marriage together but also produces the offspring that God creates.

WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE

What’s coming “out of the closet” these days is the seething hatred that many “queer” activists like novelist Armistead Maupin (left) have for religious people — or anyone who dares to oppose the absurdity that is “gay marriage.” As a Christian, I too find it shameful that the Bible was used to sustain laws against interracial marriage, but I am not ashamed today to defend the Biblical ethic of keeping sex in marriage between a man and a woman. Like most homosexual activists, Maupin erroneously attaches his aberrant-sex-based movement to the noble Black civil rights struggle, and he conveniently neglects to mention that — back in the day when sodomy was considered a “crime against nature” — it was Christians who led the fight to end slavery.

Pro-marriage citizens should eschew Maupin’s brand of rancor and bigotry (check out his churlish last line), but we must match his intensity. Go HERE to help defend marriage in California. — Peter LaBarbera

This is from the homosexual magazine The Advocate (emphasis added):

“The battle has largely been won, I think. The mean and tiny minds who’ve made it their mission to ‘defend marriage’ have existed in every era and have always lost. They lost when black people were given the right to vote. They lost when women were finally enfranchised. They lost when the ban on interracial marriage was lifted. And in each of these instances they claimed with a righteous certainty to have God on their side, only to be roundly defeated by the abiding decency and good sense of the American people. Now we’re in the midst of another seismic culture shift, thanks to several generations of lesbians and gay men who’ve refused to live their lives in hiding. People know who we are now, and we’re just not that scary anymore. The old bigots are dying off, and the young ones are learning, at the very least, to deny their homophobia. Our happy ending is finally in sight.

“Halle-[f–king]-lujah!”

–Armistead Maupin, “Calling a New Army of Lovers,” The Advocate magazine (the leading national magazine for homosexuals), July 1, 2008, p. 41. According to The Advocate, “Maupin is on tour for the paperback edition of his ninth novel, Michael Tolliver Lives, published by HarperCollins.”

Folks, this is an excellent piece on the escalating pro-homosexual totalitarianism abroad by my good friend Brian Fitzpatrick of the Culture & Media Institute (a branch of Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center). I like to think that here in America, we would not tolerate such lunacy, but that doesn’t mean that our Boy-Scout-hating “gay” militants won’t try. For a sampling of the bureaucratic language underlying Canada’s anti-Christian oppression, click HERE to read the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission’s information sheet on the Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act’s “sexual orientation” code — Peter LaBarbera

By Brian Fitzpatrick

Culture & Media Institute, June 10, 2008

Thank God for the alternative media.

Unlike the big newspapers and TV networks, small conservative online news sites are reporting the growing threat posed to religious liberty by the burgeoning homosexual rights movement.

Two indispensable Web sites, Canada’s LifeSite News and [American Family Association’s] One News Now, have carried a stunning series of articles in the past few days about critics of homosexuality being attacked by the governments of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Belgium and Canada.

• Britain’s Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor Will Defy Law Forcing Homosexual Adoption
• Northern Ireland MP Investigated for “Homophobic” Remarks
• Belgian Bishop Cleared of Charges for Church Teaching on Homosexuality

LaBarbera says Jay Bakker needs to repent for undermining the Word of God

This lesbian couple traveling with Soulforce — the “Rasmus-Ford family” — says, “God created us [as lesbians] exactly as we are with purpose and intention.” They are taking that false message to mega-churches across the country.

Press Release, Americans For Truth about Homosexuality

June 8, 2008; Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; americansfortruth@comcast.net

NAPERVILLE, Illinois — Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera today accused the homosexual activist group Soulforce of intimidating mega-churches like Willow Creek Community Church into a bogus “dialogue’ to further its goal of persuading faithful Christians to reject age-old Biblical teachings that homosexual behavior is a changeable sin.

Soulforce activists are leading a pro-“gay” campaign called the “American Family Outing” in which they seek “peaceful dialogue” (on their terms) with five mega-churches across the country each Sunday between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This weekend they are targeting Willow Creek in South Barrington, Illinois.

This cross-dressing man — who gained worldwide attention as the subject of a “Gay Terrorist” joke email — has a right to dress this way, but should he be allowed to use the woman’s restroom?

Click HERE to listen to Concerned Women for America’s online radio show:

CWA writes: There is a new law in place in Colorado that prohibits discrimination against transgendered people in any and all public accommodations. Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues speaks with Jim Pfaff, President and CEO of Colorado Family Institute and Colorado Family Action, about this new law that would allow people – regardless of their anatomy – to choose which restroom, locker room or similar accommodation they wish to use. While churches and religious organizations are exempt from this new law both public and private schools must comply, as well as small Christian-owned businesses and individuals making property available for rent. Listen | Download June 5, 2008

Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel.

California Supreme Court’s Denial of Stay Ignores the Will of the People

Liberty Counsel considers filing petition for stay with the California Court of Appeal

San Francisco, CA, Liberty Counsel, June 4 – Today the California Supreme Court by a 4-3 vote denied the Petition for Stay and for Rehearing in the California marriage cases. The decision was split along the same lines as the original May 15 ruling with Chief Justice George and Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Moreno in the majority. Justices Baxter, Chin and Corrigan dissented. Today’s ruling states that the May 15 “same-sex marriage” decision will become final on June 16, 2008, at 5:00 pm (PT).

Liberty Counsel filed a Petition on behalf of the Campaign for California Families requesting the California Supreme Court to stay its opinion pending the November election. On Monday, the California Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, certified the California Marriage Protection Act (“Amendment”) for the November 2008 ballot. The Amendment to the California Constitution states: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Thus, neither the courts nor any governmental agency will be permitted to validate or recognize any same-sex marriage license.